Posts tagged ‘COP23’

On Thursday, the second last day of the UN Climate Change conference in Bonn, 25 Nations, provinces and cities took the extraordinary step of committing to coal phaseout in a declaration to phase out coal in the OECD by 2030 and globally by 2050.

Everyone at COP outside the negotiating rooms is talking about coal and fossil fuels. But it is a sad fact that fossil fuels are not even mentioned or referred to once in the Paris Agreement, hence does not come up in the formal negotiating discussions or texts.

Progess on finance for Loss and Damages was one of the big asks by Pacific nations and developing countries at this conference. But substantial progress was blocked by developed countries like US, Australia, Canada and European Union. At the end a forum was conceded to discuss financial options in May. Weak progress.

Before the conference Climate Action Moreland joined with other civil society groups in signing on to the Climate Damages Declaration.

The United Kingdom and Canada have formed an alliance to champion phase out of unabated coal at the UN Climate Conference in Bonn – COP23 – in November 2017. After hearing the latest energy policy announcement from Prime Minister Turnbull on the National Energy Guarantee, I doubt that Australia will be up to the task of joining this alliance. We are falling further behind the new climate leaders.

Canada’s Minister for Environment and Climate change Catherine McKenna and her UK counterpart, Minister of State for Climate Change and Industry, Claire Perry, issued a joint statement on 11 October, following a successful meeting:

“Today, we announce that Canada and the United Kingdom (U.K.) will champion a global alliance on the transition from unabated coal-fired electricityat next month’s United Nations climate change meetings in Bonn, Germany. From cleaner air, to public health, to sustainability, the benefits of moving towards low or non-emitting sources of power are clear.(more…)

In the lead up to the United Nations Climate Conference, COP23, in Bonn Germany in November, the Australian ambassador for climate is touring Pacific Island nations touting Australia’s climate action credentials.

Pacific Civil society have called out the ambassador Patrick Suckling, and Australia’s climate policies, with a new award that highlights Australia’s ongoing promotion of fossil fuels.

The inaugural ‘Pacific Fossil Award’, was given to Australia for repeated efforts to convince Pacific island countries that Australia is serious about tackling climate change, even while making the problem worse by expanding coal exports, and promoting the use of coal abroad.(more…)